The 2012 Olympics opens with an angelic limb difference

The Paralympic Opening Ceremonies a month away… but did you know a limb different child helped open the Olympic Games? Did you hear the beautiful solo of a well-known British hymn, Jerusalem? (It isn’t easy to find online. Here’s a link I found so you can watch.) What I didn’t notice the first time I watched, was the 11-year-old boy who is singing like an angel has a little left arm. After I saw a couple of mentions on social media, I had to go back and look for myself.

He sang like a freaking pro and rocked one hand all at the same time. Also, I have to give him props for not feeling the need to hide his little arm. Not a bit. Billions of people around the world could see his limb difference as he sang.

Now that is awesome.

I did a little research and this fabulous singer’s name is Humphrey Keeper. He’s a member of Reach, an upper limb difference organization in England and Ireland. I’ve admired the organization for a while for it’s wide reach and support for families. One the group’s site, there’s mention they hope to interview Humphrey and his family. I’m looking forward to seeing that.

Limb differences will be more upfront than usual during the Olympics thanks to Oscar Pistorius. He is running for South Africa with a bilateral lower limb difference. I have to share this AWESOME video that explains how his helper legs work. I can only hope the more we see and talk about limb differences, the more “okay” the world can become of limb different kids and adults. (Hey, we can all hope, right?) If you’re curious how he’s able to run so fast (he uses running legs that are similar to our friend Josh), check out this video from NBC about the science of running legs.